Friday
by xxUSxUKxx
Summary: "I could have lost you today. I need you to be more careful, Alfred. What would I do without my hero?" A mishap at a ferris wheel leads to Arthur having the same day over and over. How much longer will he be able to take it until he realizes what must happen? (USUK - Short Story - Complete!)
1. Day One

_**Day One:**_

Arthur let his boyfriend pull him by the hand through the crowds of people that packed the pier on that rather cold autumn evening. He watched as his thick, blonde hair blew over in the breeze and smiled to himself. He just couldn't help but love every inch of him.

As Alfred yanked Arthur around a corner, some young boy bumped into them, crushing his chocolate ice-cream cone between them.

"Dude, really?!" Alfred threw his hands in the air, stopping in his tracks. He stared down at the boy, clearly mad.

"Come on, Alfred," Arthur smiled at his boyfriend, then squatted to make eye-contact with the boy. "He's just a little chap, I'm sure he didn't mean it." He dug around in his pockets of his overcoat till he found his red handkerchief and began to clean the young boy's shirt. He smiled up at the man, and ran towards his mother, who stood not that far off with her back to the scene.

"You're an angel, you know that?" Alfred said, as Arthur stood up to wipe Alfred's fighter-plane jacket as well.

"Yeah, I know." His coy smile sent chills down Arthur's spine. "Now let's go, before it closes!" He started pulling him along again.

After weaving their way through the thousands of people there, they finally stopped at the end of the long line of people. Alfred was bouncing in anticipation - he absolutely loved the Ferris wheel.

The ferris wheel was huge. It was brightly lit, with multicolored lights, that stood out against the darkening sky. The sun was already setting, slowly disappearing over the horizon of the ocean in the distance. The air was chilly like it normally was, with the occasional passing of the wind. Smells of cotton candy and hot dogs filled the air, making Arthur's stomach growl like a pack of dogs.

"Agh! I still have that stupid song stuck in my head!" Arthur hit the temple on his head a couple of times as if he could shake the beat out.

"Which one?" Alfred leaned in closer to Arthur as he wrapped his arms around the shorter man from the side. They'd been standing in line for a while and it was quite chilly out.

"That one from this morning," Arthur answered. "Your alarm."

Alfred had set the alarm on his cell phone to some hard rock band from the 80s, which wouldn't have bothered him if Alfred only let it go off once in the morning - but no, he just kept pressing the snooze! He'd heard those perpetual guitars screeching out notes and the singer yelling out lyrics that Arthur had no idea what was being said, how could it not be stuck in his head all day?

"Oh, sorry, dude. I'll change it." Alfred turned around and smiled up at him, lowering himself slightly to place a soft kiss on his lips. Arthur grinned at him and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You don't have to," Arthur said, he was always a sucker for his smile. Anytime they'd ever disagreed - something about those lips would always convince him that he must be wrong.

"No I will, I know how much it bothers you." He rolled his eyes ever so slightly and pulled away from Arthur as the hunched over old man who ran the ride showed them a seat in one of the cabs of the huge metal wheel, it had a big number either on the side of it. "I am so excited!"

"Al, we ride this thing like every week," Arthur said, placing his arm around the taller man's waist. He just loved the way his body fit against his own, it was like they'd been molded together perfectly; two halves to one whole.

"And I get excited every time, don't I?" Alfred asked, looking down into his brilliant green eyes. "I love the view of the city from on the top of the world."

"I know you do." Arthur smiled down at him and kissed his forehead as the wheel started slowly spinning. As Arthur felt their cab rising closer to the top, Alfred pulled away from him to get a better look of the view.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Alfred was lost in the sight of the street lights and the glowing windows along the skyline of the city. Every twinkling light was reflected off the harbor, which created an eerie effect that melted nicely with the magic that Alfred saw around him. Arthur watched him, amazed by his amazement, as he reached a hand out to rub his back. The other man leaned forward, shifting the balance of the cab and causing it to almost tip.

"Woah!" Arthur exclaimed, grabbing hold of Arthur in a moment of panic.

"Did that scare you?" He asked with a grin. "What about this?" As they reached the highest point of the ride, Alfred leaned the upper half of his body over the edge of the cab and swung dangerously forward.

"Stop that, Al! You'll kill yourself!" Arthur reached out to grab hold of him again, but Alfred just laughed. "I'm serious, we're really high up, Alfred."

"I'm not scared. I'm the hero! I won't fall." Alfred just smirked and continued to lean over the edge of the cab,

"Seriously-" Arthur was cut off as the ride lurched to a sudden stop. Alfred lost his balance and his eyes grew wide. Arthur could feel time slow down and the lights in the distance became blurred. He could barely think as he watched Alfred spin his arms, trying to catch his balance again.

As Arthur shot forward to catch him, his weight shifted the cab again and Alfred tumbled over the edge. Alfred let out almost a blood-curing scream as Arthur imagined his twisted and broken body hitting the pikes and wires on the way to the ground. His hands reached out and he grabbed hold of her feet, struggling not to fall out of the cab himself.

"I have you. I have you." He kept repeating as Alfred continued to yell aloud in alarm. Arthur mustered all of the strength he could and pulled him up into the cab. "Shh, you're safe now." He wrapped the taller man up in his arms and patted his hair, feeling his body shake with sobs as he tried to soothe him.

After a scolding by the old man for rough-housing on the ride, Arthur suggested that they go home. Alfred quickly agreed and they walked arm-in-arm back to Arthur's car. They drove home in silence the entire way. They parked, entered the house, and got prepared for bed. As they climbed under the plush white sheets. Arthur wrapped his arms around Alfred again.

"I could have lost you today." He whispered, and he averted his gaze.

"I...I..." Alfred struggled with his words.

"I just need you to be more careful Alfred. What would I do without my hero?" Arthur placed his hand on Alfred's chin and tilted his head so they were making eye-contact.

Alfred didn't say anything, but just stared into his eyes before he drifted off to sleep. They were entwined around one another, trying not to think about how quickly it had almost all come to an end.


	2. Day Two

~~~  
**Day Two:**

Arthur opened his eyes just enough to see sunlight filling the bedroom. It was a beautiful morning, he could tell it already. But that was before he heard the screeching notes of the electric guitar and sighed, hitting Alfred with his pillow. "Turn it off, Alfred!"

"Okay, okay," Alfred sighed, rubbing his face as he reached for his phone and turned the alarm off. "I don't know what you could possibly have against that song, it's a classic!"

"Classic? It's terrible!" Arthur grunted as he sat up, running a hand through his messy bedhead of hair. "Besides, you said that you'd change it, didn't you?"

"What?!" Alfred's eyes grew wide, staring at the other in disbelief. "There's no way I'd ever change my alarm, I love it!"

"But, last night when we were at the pier, in that line for that terrible ferris wheel ride," Arthur moved his hands in the air, as if he could unravel the memories of last night. His voice was faltering as his eyes roamed around the other's face, as though all the answers where right there.

"The pier?" Alfred rolled over and buried his face in his pillow, muffling his voice. "We didn't go to the pier last night, we had dinner at Feliciano and Ludwig's place."

"Dinner at their place?" Arthur blinked in confusion. "No way, we were on the ferris wheel, you have to remember - you nearly died!" He was now propped up, his body tensing.

Alfred turned to looked at Arthur, he was doing that cute thing with his eyebrows that he did when he was confused. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked.

"What?" He blinked. "Yeah, of course. I mean, I suppose I'm just a little shaken." Arthur sighed.

"I know, Ludwig's food was _the_ _wurst_." Alfred let out a small chuckle at the joke he made, wiping his eyes for added effect. "But I'm sure you'll recover." He nodded before putting his face back to his pillow and tried to go back to sleep.

Arthur sighed at the other's poor pun. "Alfred, stop playing dumb. We went out last night to the pier, like we do every Friday, we were at Ludwig's and Feliciano's on Thursday."

"Umm..." Alfred's muffled voice came from the pillow as she turned to face Arthur again. "Babe, today's Friday."

Now it was Arthur's turn to make his own confused face, by scrunching up his thick eyebrows, as he reached for his own cell phone and looked at the date. "Oh." He scratched his head. "Must have been a dream then."

"Dream?" Alfred's head seemed to perk up a little more in interest.

Arthur described the dream he had to Alfred and he pretended to understand how real it felt. But Arthur wasn't convinced that Alfred truly did, even though he nodded in understanding. Typical of the American.

So, Arthur got up to get ready, went to work, stopped at the tea shop down the street for lunch, and then went home - feeling like he'd done those things before.

"I just had the strangest day," He said once he was home again, placing his hat on the coat stand once he had gone through the door.

"Oh yeah?" Alfred asked, his head peeking around the corner of the kitchen, smiling at him. "Tell me about it."

"Well, it just felt so familiar. Like it was deja vu or something."

"Oh? I love when that stuff happens." Alfred grinned. "It's cool, always makes you wonder."

"Yeah..." Arthur's voice trailed off as he recognized each event of the day from the dream he'd had. He thought about the ferris wheel and dreaded the thought of going.

"I'm so excited for out ferris wheel ride tonight!" It was as if Alfred had read Arthur's thoughts. He plastered on a fake grin as Alfred bounced up and down.

They ate dinner, hamburgers - like in his dream - then climbed into the car for the short drive to the pier. Alfred pulled Arthur along toward the ferris wheel and felt his stomach sinking.

He noticed a familiar corner and as they turned it, and saw a young boy slam into Alfred with his ice cream cone.

"You okay?" Alfred asked Arthur as the shorter man wiped ice-cream from his clothes and noticed the color had drained from his face.

"No." Arthur grabbed ahold of Alfred after he was done cleaning him. "I really don't feel well." He was looking up at the ferris wheel as it loomed over the people on the pier.

"Really?" Alfred sounded anxious. "I hope it wasn't the burgers. 'Cause they were pretty damn good."

"No, no," Arthur reassured him. "It wasn't them. I just... don't feel like being on the top tonight."

Alfred stared at him, Arthur could tell that he was disappointed. He let out a sigh before saying, "Alright, don't worry about it, bro. We'll just go home and watch a movie instead. How 'bout Avengers?"

"Thanks, Al." He half-grinned at him. "And that sounds like a great plan."

And with that, they headed back home.


	3. Day Three

_**Day 3:**_

Arthur heard the hard rock song of Alfred's morning alarm and sat up in bed with a sigh. He knew well enough by now that he wouldn't get up to turn if off, so he reached across him and grabbed his phone. He struggled for a second to figure out how to turn it off, then the date and time flashed across the screen.

"What...?" He said, shaking his head.

"Go back to sleep, Arthur." Alfred groaned as he hid his head under his pillow.

"But Alfred, it says that today is Friday," Arthur said, shaking the thing.

"Yeah, of course it says it's Friday, because it is Friday."

Arthur struggled all day to get the people around him to realize that it was Saturday and not Friday.

It had to be Saturday! He'd just lived through at least one Friday, now it had to be Saturday. But nobody seemed to believe him.

In fact, his boss sent him home early - convinced that he's been overworked.

"You're home early," Alfred rushed to Arthur's side and felt his forehead for a fever.

"Yeah, I just..." Arthur struggled for words, then scratched his head. "I don't want to go to the pier tonight. I just... I need to lay down."


	4. Day Ten

_**Day 10:**_

As he sat at his desk at the office, he looked at the work that had been laid out for him - the same work he'd done for nine days. He couldn't understand why he was the only one who realized they were all living in the same Friday over and over again.

"Hey Arthur!" Mr. Bonnefoy popped his head inside Arthur's office.

Arthur worked in receiving and Arthur already know what he was about to say. "No, I'm not going to the tea shop today."

Mr. Bonnefoy just blinked in surprise. "Why not? You love that place!"

"Not in the mood." Arthur waved him off before grabbing a pen to start his work, but he couldn't quite get his mind on it. "It's all just a bad dream that I need to wake up from."

This was something Arthur had been telling himself every time he woke up, every time he looked at the calendar on the wall, every time he ate Alfred's burgers or when he asked to go to the pier. He'd been lying to him everyday and telling him that he was sick. He figured it was easier to avoid the pier than save him from his doom every night.

As he thought about his lot in life, his inability to move on to Saturday, he started shaking with rage.

Then he stood and grabbed his coat, storming out of the office and past Mr. Bonnefoy. "I'm going home, I'm sick."

He was intent on spending the rest of this Friday and every Friday after in bed, and he wouldn't get up until it was Saturday.


	5. Day Fifteen

_**Day 15:**_

Alfred's alarm went off and Arthur reached over top of him and grabbed it. With a grunt, he threw it across the room and it smashed against the wall.

"Hey!" Alfred yelled aloud as he realized what happened. "Dude, what was that about?"

"I'll buy you a new one," Arthur said, knowing full he'd never actually have to. "We're not going to the pier today, I don't feel good."

"What?" Alfred looked at Arthur with disbelief. "What's going on? We had such a great time at Ludwig's last night, so I thought for sure you'd been in a good mood this morning."

"We didn't go to Ludwig's last night!" Arthur snapped at him. "We didn't go anywhere last night, we stayed in. Just like every night."

Alfred blinked in confusion at the other, obviously not able to understand where this was coming from. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked, reaching out to his face but Arthur pushed his hand aside.

"I'm fine." He huffed, flipping onto his side, his back to Alfred.

"Are you going to get up for work?" He whispered, not trying to get him mad again.

"No, just leave me alone, Alfred."


	6. Day Thirty

_**Day 30:**_

Right on cue, the alarm went off, and that was when Arthur flipped. "Alfred! Turn... off... that... damn... PHONE!" He pounded his fists into the bed and shook with anger. He'd long ago given up trying to convince those around him that he was reliving the same day over and over again. He'd even given up going to work, what was the point?

"What's with the rage?" Alfred asked, turning off the pop ballad alarm. "You're not gonna blow another gasket, are you?"

"Just..." Arthur raised himself off the pillow and struggled through his anger to form words. "Just, shut up, okay?"

"What?" Alfred's voice squeaked.

"I just want to be left alone."

"So be it." He huffed and got out of bed to go about his day.

Arthur tossed and turned all day, refusing to get up, refusing to face yet another Friday.

But right when he was about to doze off, he noticed that the sun was setting now. He got out of bed, shuffling out as he grabbed some milk from the fridge in the kitchen.

"Alfred?!"

Slamming the fridge, he noticed a little post-it note against the door that read:

_'Gone to the pier with Lud and Feli, there's burgers in the microwave. Love, Al.'_

"Oh bloody hell." Arthur dropped the milk as he remembered he's forgotten to tell Alfred to not go to the pier.

That was when he ran as fast as he could to his car, trying to get to the pier in time and hoping to God that he wasn't on the ferris wheel yet. Once there, Arthur barreled his way through the crowds to get to the ferris wheel, and that's when he saw him.

"Oh god, Alfred!" He called aloud, grabbing his arm. "Please don't get on that ferris wheel."

"What? Why not?"

"Please, just don't. I can't lose you. I need you. Just come home... Please." He begged.

"You know you aren't going to lose me, I'm right here. I'm the hero! Duh."

"I know, now, but I want you forever." He held onto Alfred, taking in his smell, his feel, everything. "I could never live without you."

"Artie," He let out a sigh. "I don't know what the hell's gotten into you, but-" He paused as he looked deep into Arthur's eyes and saw the desperation in his eyes. "You might be crazy, but I love you. I'm not going to leave you and I have no plans of dying anytime soon, so let's get this over with and..." He looked at the growing crowd and blushed. "Let's just go home now?"


	7. Day Fifty-five

_**Day 55:**_

"Let's go to the pier now?" Alfred asked, wiggling with excitement.

"Yes," Arthur smiled and nodded slowly, admiring his enthusiasm and watching the way his beautiful hair bounced they way it did, especially that one little piece that stood up in the front. "Let's go to the pier."

Arthur didn't say much as he drove, he just listened to what Alfred had to say, Every once in a while, he'd turn to steal a glance of his blonde hair with the setting sun through it. Every time he saw him looking at him, he blushed and smiled, but otherwise pretended not to notice.

Arthur loved his smile.

"Come on, come on!" Alfred called out as he pulled Arthur through the crowds of people that packed onto the pier.

As he pulled him around the corner, he heard the familiar voice of Alfred, who just ran into the kid with the ice-cream and he couldn't help but smile down at the boy.

Alfred waited somewhat patiently as Arthur cleaned up the boy's clothes and then his, then Arthur allowed Alfred to drag him the rest of the way to the ferris wheel.

"You're quiet tonight," He said observantly.

"I know, just distracted, I guess." Arthur shrugged.

The old man let them into the cab with the numbed eight on it and Arthur watched Alfred's excitement with altitude. "I love the view of the city from on top of the world," He said as he leaned forward.

"I know you do," He said, looking over at him. "I've been thinking about what you said... about everything having a beginning and an end..."

"I said that?" Alfred asked, turning around to look at him and leaned his back against the open edge of the cab. They reached the top and the ride lurched to a sudden stop, causing Alfred to lose his balance.

Arthur stared at Alfred as he felt time slow down again. "I love you," He said as he slowly reached his hand out to him. "I'm so sorry..."

Alfred's eyes grew wide as Arthur gave him a gently nudge and he screamed, falling over the edge of the cab. Arthur didn't look, but could hear his body crashing against the metal spikes of the giant wheel. He heard other people screaming from the ground as Alfred fell. All he could do was sit there, shaking, his face covered in tears.

He had just sent his hero over the edge. The only person he wanted to save, but couldn't.


	8. Day Fifty-six

_**Day 56:**_

Arthur opened his eyes, pulling off the blanket and not even noticing that there was no music playing as he rolled over to grab ahold of Alfred. His hand came down on the empty side of the bed that he slept on and raised his head off the pillow.

He looked at the spot next to him and rubbed the untouched sheet. He grabbed hold of Alfred's pillow and held it to his face, smelling his lingering scent as he cried. But right before he did that, he caught a glimpse of the date.

_Saturday._

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__**Author's Note:** Thanks so much for reading this short story! I hope you enjoyed. I'm working on something big next, so keep a lookout for that. If you're wondering where _Prince _went, I decided to take it down because I've been having major writers' block with that. It's just so hard, so I'm writing a little something else. Keep a lookout, why don't you? Cheers, xxUSxUKxx


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